5 Facts: Bob Marley

Today’s five facts are about Jamaica’s global superstar and cultural icon, Bob Marley. One of the most influential musicians the world has ever seen, Marley is known in every corner of the globe for unforgettable ska, rocksteady and reggae rhythms, as well as lyrics about struggle and change that encouraged people to stand up for their rights.

Bob Marley was born Robert Nesta Marley in Rhoden Hall, St. Ann on February 6, 1945

In 1962, Marley’s first record ‘Judge Not’ was released. By the following year, Bob linked up with Bunny and Peter to form The Wailing Wailers.

In 1963 Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd, a record producer and one of the finest sound system men in Kingston, recorded The Wailing Wailers first single, ‘Simmer Down’ at his Studio One company. By the following January it was number one on the Jamaican charts.

Just before Marley’s free concert, held at Kingston’s National Heroes Park on December 5, 1976, gunmen broke into Marley’s house and shot him on December 3. On December 5, he came on stage and played a brief set in defiance of the attack.

In April 1978, Bob Marley returned from the UK to Jamaica to play the One Love Peace Concert where he invited the heads of the two main political parties, Prime Minister and President of the People’s National Party Michael Manley and Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, Edward Seaga on stage. At the time the political parties were engaged in what has been described as “political civil war”